4. Harmony, Part 1
Brotherhood and Sisterhood Activity, America
From the Desk of the Peshkar
Nuria Stephanie Sabato and
KarimaGita Erickson-Harper, Assistant Peshkar
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the midst of a manifest world with its apparent discord and disharmony, let us be as great light-houses on the shore of a choppy sea standing steady, firm, and radiant bearing all with great strength and power.
Loving regards and prayers for an enlightened world,
Nuria and KarimaGita
Social Gatheka, No. 4, Part 1, Harmony
by Hazrat Inayat Khan
It seems that that which makes beauty is harmony; beauty in itself has no meaning. A certain object which is called beautiful at a certain place and time is not beautiful at another place or at another time. And so it is with thought, speech and action. That which is called beautiful is only so at a certain time and condition, which makes it beautiful. Therefore if one could give a true definition of beauty it is harmony. Harmony is the combination of colours; harmony is the drawing of a design or line, that is called beauty. At the same time a word, a thought, a feeling, an action that creates harmony, is productive of beauty.
Now the question is from where comes the tendency to harmony and from where comes the tendency to disharmony? The natural tendency of every soul is towards harmony and the tendency towards disharmony is an unnatural state of mind or affair. And the very fact that it is not natural makes it void of beauty. The psychology of man is such than man responds both to harmony and disharmony. He cannot help it, because naturally he is made so, mentally and physically he responds to all that comes to him, be it harmonious or inharmonious.
And the teaching of Christ, "resist not evil," is a hint not to respond to disharmony. For instance a word of kindness, of sympathy, an action of love and affection finds response, but at the same time a word of insult, an action of revolt or hatred, that creates response too, and that response creates more disharmony in the world. By giving way to disharmony one allows disharmony to multiply. At this time when one sees in the world the greatest unrest and discomfort pervading all over, where does it come from? It seems that it is from the ignorance of this fact that disharmony creates disharmony, and will multiply disharmony.
A person has a natural tendency that if he sees he is insulted, he thinks the proper way of answering is to insult the other person still more. By this he gets a momentary satisfaction, to have given a good answer, but he does not know what he has done by his good answer. He has given response to that power which came from the other and these two powers, being negative and positive, create more disharmony.
"Resist not evil," does not mean receive evil onto yourself. "Resist not evil," only means this: do not send back the disharmony that comes to you, just as the person playing tennis would send back the ball with his racket. But at the same time, it does not suggest that you should receive the ball with open hands. The tendency towards harmony may be likened to a rock in the sea and each wave comes with all force and yet the rock is still, stands, bears it all, letting the waves beat against it.
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